


And The Oscar Goes To

by 42hrb



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Academy Awards, Actor Stiles, Alternate Universe - Human, Artist Derek, Coming Out, Established Relationship, M/M, Sheriff Stilinski's Name is John
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-10-08 15:56:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10390383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/42hrb/pseuds/42hrb
Summary: Being publicly in the closet means Stiles can't go to the Academy Awards with who he really wants, but it's not like he's going to win so he doesn't have to worry about slipping up and thanking Derek in his speech... right?





	

**Author's Note:**

> It's been awhile since I wrote Sterek. *Throws it at you and runs away*
> 
> Thanks to G for the beta.

Earlier in  his career, Stiles Stilinski had thought that walking one red carpet meant he had walked them all, but this award season had proved that assumption to be totally false. Walking a red carpet when you’ve been nominated for an award at the show was an entirely new experience. Sure, he had been nominated for People’s Choice Awards and more fan-driven ones before, but this year he had finally broken out of the rom-com and buddy comedy genres and into roles that challenged him. And this year, he was walking the red carpet at the Oscar with the chance to win not just one, but two once he entered the building. 

Some had called 2016 his breakout year, others had said they knew that he could do it all along, and others still had questioned his ability to take on some of the more serious roles until they saw the films he was starring in. So here he was, at his third Academy Awards, but this time he was nominated instead of just attending. It had been a nerve-wracking award season that had left Stiles with a Golden Globe, a SAG award, and two Critic’s Choice awards, but none of that would hold a candle to this.

“Stiles, you have to move,” Lydia Martin--his agent and manager--said to him, pushing him toward the final reporter along the carpet. “Smile more.”

Stiles resisted the eyeroll that he could feel building; he didn’t want to be on the cover of some trashy tabloid with his eyes rolled back in his head and a caption commenting on his mental instability or an attitude problem. “Stiles! You look great,” Erica Reyes from Access Hollywood said, her voice sweet as syrup and her lips fire-engine red.  

“So do you, Ms. Reyes. Are you sure I can’t convince you to leave your husband and run away with me?” Stiles said with a charming smile. He had gone to UCLA with Erica’s husband Vernon Boyd and they had been, and still were, good friends. Boyd was currently the star wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints and would kick his ass if he were here in that moment.

“Ah ah ah, you know that I’m loyal,” Erica said with a smile. “But what about you? Who are you here with? Have a hot date that you’re hiding somewhere?”

“Of course I do,” Stiles told her. “My dad’s right over there.”

“Oh! Of course he is; he’s your permanent date during award season.” Erica said and then waved. “Hi, Sheriff.”

John Stilinski waved back with a smile, “Aren’t you going to ask me who I’m wearing?”

“I would, but that’s Laura Hale and I need to catch her before she gets inside. She and that hunky artist brother of hers skipped half the reporters already; I can’t let them skip me,” Erica said, giving Stiles a little smile. “It was lovely talking to you Stiles; good luck!”

Stiles stepped back and found his dad. “Ready to go in?”

“Sure am,” John said and when they were out of view of the cameras, Stiles looked back at Laura Hale. She looked stunning in a backless navy gown, but that wasn’t what he was looking at; he was looking at Laura’s brother Derek who looked just as stunning in a navy suit with the perfect amount of beard. “Sorry you couldn’t come with him tonight.”

“It’s alright,” Stiles said with a sad smile, moving toward the hall. “Maybe next year.”

Stiles decided that the Oscars were a lot more stressful and a lot less fun when you were a nominee, but he had practiced his gracious loser face so he would be ready when that time came. It was a great face, and it would’ve worked, except that when they called the name of the winner for best supporting actor, it was his. He stood up, hugged his father, and walked to the stage in a daze.

“I honestly didn’t think I’d win this,” Stiles said, looking at the award in his hand, “but the pressure's off now since no one has ever won supporting and lead actor in the same year.”

That got him a laugh and he smiled. “I want to thank Allison Argent, whose directing can take most of the credit for this award, the cast and crew for their tireless work, the other 4 nominees for making truly amazing movies, my brother Scotty, my dad, and my agent Lydia for making sure I’m always on set on time. But mostly, I want to thank...” His words caught in his chest and his eyes found Derek for a moment. He was grinning at him and Stiles found his voice again, “My mom. This is for you.”

He was guided off stage and to the pressroom where he was bombarded with questions that he knows he answered but couldn’t remember what exactly what he said. Lydia found him, her eyes bright. “Good speech! Make the next one a little less robotic; it felt like you were reading a list until your mom.”

“Thanks, Lyds! I’m so excited that I won a fucking Oscar so I should really think about my speech.” 

“Oh shut up, you know I’m proud of you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Stiles said, then added, “Should I go back to my seat?”

“Yes,” Lydia said, she reached up and whispered in his ear, “I’m sorry you’re not here with Derek.”

“Maybe next year,” Stiles said with a shrug before he allowed himself to be lead back to his seat by an usher. He walked past Derek and Laura’s table and saw Derek give him a thumbs up in his lap; it made him smile. 

“I’m so proud of you, son,” John said when Stiles got back to the table. “I knew you’d win.”

“I didn’t,” Stiles admitted, but he was calmer now. He wouldn’t win best actor so the pressure was truly off, “But I’m glad it’s over.”

“You’ve got another you might win.”

“Nah,” Stiles said, wishing it was acceptable to pull his phone out and text Scott, but mostly to text Derek. 

They had been dating for nearly four years, since before Stiles’ big break as the goofy friend in a high school rom-com. He had been 23 at the time, but he looked young enough that it had worked. But before they were dating, they were friends; Derek was another UCLA classmate of his. 

It was the most real and true thing Stiles had ever known, but they had been hiding since the start. At first it was so Stiles could get his career off the ground, then because Stiles had become a heartthrob, then because Stiles was up for an Academy Award. It had been so about him for so long that he often wondered why Derek stayed.

Derek was an artist who could have been out and proud without much backlash, but he always told Stiles it was okay and that he could take as long as he needed to come out. The media thought they were good friends, which was true in a sense. Stiles and Laura had costarred in an action-packed spy movie a year before and that had helped with the friends angle, and people had even suspected that Stiles and Laura were dating. 

“Son, your award is up,” John said, jarring Stiles out of his thoughts and back to the present. 

They had chosen a great clip from the film; his character, Alex, came back to his hometown for the first time in ten years because his brother had committed suicide, and the film explored the aftermath of the loss. The scene they had chosen was Alex screaming at the night sky, not in anger at his brother, but at himself for not being there, for not seeing it and trying to help.

Salma Hayek held the envelope in his hands and Stiles’ eyes were glued to it; he knew his name wouldn’t be in it, but it was still a nervous moment when she opened it. “The award for best actor goes to... Stiles Stilinski!”

Stiles sat frozen for what felt like an hour until his dad elbowed him in the arm and Stiles shook his head, feeling dazed. He made his way to the stage where he hugged Salma and then looked at the award in his hand for a long moment. 

“I  _ really _ didn’t think I’d win this one,” Stiles said with a wry smile. “First, congratulations to all the other nominees; you’re all so talented, and you inspire me more than you’ll ever know.”

He paused and looked out at the crowd, his eyes falling on Derek, like they so often did. He saw Lydia in the wings, her eyes bright and a smile on her face. She waved her hand at him and he turned back to the microphone. 

“Fuck it,” Stiles said, running a hand through his hair. “Oop, sorry about that.”

Everyone laughed and he took a deep breath before looking at Derek. He had a look on his face that told Stiles he knew what Stiles was going to do.  Derek smiled; not his smile for the cameras, but the one that he saved just for Stiles. 

“This performance was only possible because every night I left set and went home to the most wonderful man in the world who made sure I didn’t lose myself,” Stiles said, running his free hand through his hair. “Der, this one, and all of the awards, is for you, because having you in my life is the best prize of them all.”

There was a stunned silence before people who knew Stiles and Derek started cheering, and then everyone was cheering. Stiles was guided off stage by a bemused looking film student where he was greeted by flashing cameras and reporters.

The press room itself was louder than Stiles expected, so he waited for people to calm down before calling on Erica for the first question. He thought it was a strategic move; Erica knew about Stiles and Derek, and she was a friendly, if slightly scary, face. 

“Two questions,” Erica said and Stiles nodded. “First question: How does it feel to be the first person to ever win Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor in the same night? Second question; is ‘Der’ Derek Hale, and are you saying that you two are dating?”

“Well, first of all, Erica, I think that’s three questions,” Stiles said with a smile. That got a laugh and Stiles relaxed. “To answer your questions, it feels surreal. I didn’t expect to win one award, let alone two. And yes to both of your other questions.”

There was another burst of noise. Stiles waited patiently, a small smile on his face. The next question was: “Are you saying that you’re gay?”

“Bisexual, actually,” Stiles said with another smile. 

“How did you prepare for your role as Alex?” 

“Oh, I wasn’t expecting a question about any of my roles after dropping that bomb,” Stiles said, running a hand through his hair. “I guess I channeled a lot of feelings that I had after my mom passed away. I don’t have a brother, but I know what loss feels like.”

“What made you come out tonight?”

“I mean, no one can say I’m a shitty actor now that I won an Academy Award,” Stiles said. “We kept waiting for the right time in my career, and I don’t think there will ever be a right time, but I’m sick of not being able to hold my boyfriend’s hand in public.”

He answered a few more questions before he was ushered back to the audience just in time for the Best Picture announcement. He clapped and pretended to listen to the acceptance speech, but his eyes were two tables over on Derek. 

This time next year, they would be here together. This time next year, they would  _ finally _ be living together in the little two bedroom bungalow they had picked out together near Seal Beach. This time next week, they could be on a date in public. He smiled to himself as he thought about it, and when he blinked, he saw Derek smiling at him. His smile looked like home. 

The clip that almost all of the TV networks ran with about Stiles’ coming out was simple. Some networks played the clip with Stiles still in it, and some played it over a series of pictures of Stiles and Derek together, starting with pictures from college. 

“Winning an Oscar is most actors’ dream, but what’s the point of living your dream if you have to lie about who you are to live it? I’d rather not work another day in Hollywood than not have Derek. I should have come out sooner, but he was always supportive of me taking the time I needed to make it public. I wouldn’t be who I am today without him. Winning an Oscar is great, but it wasn’t my biggest dream. My biggest dream is waking up everyday with him.”

For Christmas, Laura put every bit of coverage on a DVD for them to keep forever. Neither of them even pretend to hate it. They watched it that night when they go back to their bungalow, cuddled together on the couch with Purrito on Stiles lap. Something had settled in his chest the night of the Oscars, and he finally felt whole.

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](exhuastedpigeon.tumblr.com)


End file.
